Duck Stab!/Buster
Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen is the fourth (or fifth) album by The Residents, released on Ralph Records on November 30th 1978. Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen combines Duck Stab!, a seven-song EP released earlier in the year, with Buster & Glen, recorded at approximately the same time and originally intended as a follow-up EP (though ultimately never released separately). History Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen started life in February 1978 as a seven-song EP entitled Duck Stab!, which featured songs sung clearly, with discernible (if surreal) lyrics, similarly to the first half of their previous album Fingerprince. This new, mildly more accessible sound made the Duck Stab! EP a runaway success, selling out the first pressing very quickly, meaning that the band had to press more, which for them was highly unusual. The sound quality of the initial printing of the EP had been poor, because The Residents had tried to squeeze sixteen minutes of music onto a single 7" disc, compressing the sound quality considerably on the disc. The band therefore decided to re-release the songs on an LP (with a revised track order) so as to improve the sound quality. To complete the album, they made use of a stylistically similar but unreleased EP entitled Buster & Glen as the second side of the LP. Release Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was released in November 1978, partly as a stopgap to take advantage of the group's growing success in the face of the delays in recording their long-awaited Eskimo album (which would finally see release the following year). These delays, and the need to release new products to meet the new demand, would also result in the release of the group's heretofore unreleased 1974 album Not Available, as well as a short feud between the group and their management group The Cryptic Corporation, which saw the group briefly flee to England to hide the Eskimo master tapes with their friend, percussionist Chris Cutler of Henry Cow and Art Bears. Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen was as big a success commercially as it was critically, thanks to the more accessible music and the clever, Lewis Carroll-flavoured lyrics. The shorter length of the songs made the album more accessible for new fans who had recently heard Satisfaction, and songs like "Constantinople" and "Hello Skinny" helped cement the band's cult following. The album features notable guitar contributions from the band's long-time collaborator Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman. To promote the album, a short film was directed by The Residents with Graeme Whifler for the track "Hello Skinny", starring Bridgit Terris as the titular "Skinny". The 1987 CD reissue of the album also included the Goosebump tracks from the Diskomo EP. The 1995 Euro Ralph CD reissue of the album included Duck Stab! and Buster & Glen as two separate 3" mini CDs, marking the first and only time where the latter has been presented as a standalone EP as originally intended. Track listing Duck Stab! # Constantinople (2:23) # Sinister Exaggerator (3:28) # The Booker Tease (1:04) # Blue Rosebuds (3:08) # Laughing Song (2:12) # Bach Is Dead (1:12) # Elvis And His Boss (2:29) Buster & Glen # Lizard Lady (1:54) # Semolina (2:48) # Birthday Boy (2:41) # Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:11) # Krafty Cheese (1:59) # Hello Skinny (2:41) # The Electrocutioner (3:20) pREServed edition (2018) edition, 2018]]Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen ''was the fourth Residents album to be released as part of their pREServed series of expanded and remastered catalog reissues, alongside ''Fingerprince on 23rd March 2018. The pREServed edition of Duck Stab! features the Duck Stab! and Buster & Glen LPs (in their LP track configuration) with additional "Duck Buster ephemera", such as "Santa Dog '78" (with an additional, previously unreleased version of "Guylum Bardot" from around this time), previously unheard material from the Duck Stab! sessions ("Soulful Sax", "Owboutthat", and a version of "When Johnny Comes Marching", which was previously heard on the group's early demo tapes), rehearsals, live versions and studio re-interpretations dating from 1982 to the mid 2010s. Track listing (*) indicates tracks which are previously unreleased. Disc 1 Duck Stab! + Buster & Glen remastered ''+ Duck Buster ''Ephemera' # Constantinople (2:24) # Sinister Exaggerator (3:28) # The Booker Tease (1:07) # Blue Rosebuds (3:12) # Laughing Song (2:14) # Bach Is Dead (1:14) # Elvis and His Boss (2:32) # Lizard Lady (1:55) # Semolina (2:53) # Birthday Boy (2:42) # Weight-Lifting Lulu (3:12) # Krafty Cheese (2:03) # Hello Skinny (2:40) # The Electrocutioner (3:24) # Guylum Bardot '78 (*) (1:06) # Soulful Sax (*) (2:19) # Ow Boutthat (*) (0:49) # When Johnny Comes Marching (*) (1:37) # Unlisted (*) (1:59) # Santa Dog '78 (1:51) Disc 2 ''Duck Buster ''Ephemera # Bach Is Dead (1982 Rehearsal) (1:21) # Birthday Boy (1982 Rehearsal) (3:41) # Constantinople (1982 Rehearsal) (2:10) # DS/BAG Suite (Tromso, Inconvenienced, 1986) (*) (13:21) # Semolina (Live, 1986) (3:56) # Hello Skinny (Icky Flix Version) (3:06) # Constantinople (Icky Flix Version) (2:27) # Lizard Lady / Hello Skinny (Live 2005) (5:09) # Semolina (Live 2011) (3:46) # Lizard Lady (Live 2011) (3:42) # Blue Rosebuds (Live 2014) (3:07) # Weightlifting Lulu (Live 2014) (3:29) # Blue Rosebuds RMX (3:23) # Booker Tease (Re-Imagined) (2:24) # Weight-Lifting Lulu (Re-Imagined) (3:16) # Constantinople (Adobe) (1:54) # Bach Is Dead (Re-Imagined) (2:26) # Laughing Song (Re-Imagined) (2:23) # The Electrocutioner (Re-Imagined) (2:38) # Hello Skinny (Re-Imagined) (4:03) Liner notes 1987 ESD reissue The fifth LP release by The Residents, Duck Stab! started off its life as an EP of seven songs. The record proved to be a big hit and was soon united with a second EP, Buster & Glen, to form the LP Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen. All the tracks from the two EPs are represented here. This release, recorded in 1977, startled the world's ears with its "modern-day nursery rhyme" characterizations. It is fitting that Goosebump, a contemporary Mother Goose, has been added to complete this Compact Disc. 1995 double 3" CD reissue 'Duck Stab! For many admirers of the group, Duck Stab! has been the ultimate release by The Residents. It is reported that Duck Stab! "lifted many people across the country out of the slumber of the seventies". We at Euro Ralph do not know whether that's true or not. But it's a fact that the original 7" EP, with 7 songs and 16 minutes of music, resulted in a limited sound quality. Therefore the songs on this little disc have been remastered for better sound, evolving in more pleasure for admirers of "Constantinople" and the likes. Enjoy. Buster & Glen Due to the greed of The Residents' record company Ralph Records, Buster & Glen had a very limited life of its own. Instead of being released as a 7" EP, commercial reasons degraded Buster & Glen to become somewhat like Duck Stab's bonus tracks appendix. Euro Ralph always believed that the material on Buster & Glen was too strong to end up as a B-side. And now this masterpiece finally appears on a 3" CD of its own, being part of this split-cover-release. All tracks experienced the same sound enhancements as its sister release Duck Stab. Release history See also * Duck Stab! * D*ck S*ab - 35th Anniversary Listen online *[https://open.spotify.com/album/0PEMxmj2m6pLKoqYR0WtzW?si=hs91TPATQmO43YhRnxLIoQ Duck Stab/Buster & Glen on Spotify] External links and references * Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen ''at The Residents Historical * ''Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen at RZWeb * Duck Stab! Buster & Glen pREServed edition at Cherry Red Records * Duck Stab!/Buster & Glenat Discogs Category:Albums Category:Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Category:Compilations Category:PREServed